1 Samuel 16:21

16:21 David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul liked him a great deal, and he became his armor bearer.

1 Samuel 26:13

26:13 Then David crossed to the other side and stood on the top of the hill some distance away; there was a considerable distance between them.

1 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Goliath stood and called to Israel’s troops, “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose for yourselves a man so he may come down to me!

1 Samuel 17:51

17:51 David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grabbed Goliath’s sword, drew it from its sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they ran away.


tn Heb “he loved him.”

tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”

tc The translation follows the ancient versions in reading “choose,” (from the root בחר, bkhr), rather than the MT. The verb in MT (ברה, brh) elsewhere means “to eat food”; the sense of “to choose,” required here by the context, is not attested for this root. The MT apparently reflects an early scribal error.

tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.

tn Heb “his”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tc Most LXX mss lack the words “drew it from its sheath.”